CM lists 'main elements of progress'

By Our Staff Reporter

KURNOOL, APRIL 21. The Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, has said the Government will give priority to water, population control and education, describing them as the main elements of development.

Mr. Naidu was addressing public meetings at Alamur, Chintakomma Dinne and Sirivella in the Allagadda Assembly constituency of Kurnool district on Saturday after examining the progress of desiltation of agriculture tanks and ponds with the participation of beneficiaries.

Mr. Naidu said water wars were witnessed between states and countries in the past and now. This indicated the importance of water in the life of human beings. Rainfall was the only source that brought water to the earth, but the nature's gift was not treasured properly. About 40 per cent of water was wasted in the form of evaporation, 41 per cent run- off, 10 per cent retained in the ground as moisture while only 9 per cent of rainfall was converted into groundwater. The Chief Minister said if the share of groundwater was enhanced by 5 per cent, famines would be banished for ever from the earth.

Driving home the importance of groundwater, Mr. Naidu told the villagers that the water stored in the ground was like a bank balance which could be withdrawn whenever needed. He called upon people to work with missionary spirit, setting aside differences in the village for development of water sources since it was important for the rich and the poor alike. Mr. Naidu said the Government would provide financial assistance for farmers' groups to build small ponds either through banks or Government departments. He appreciated Mr. S. Vijayakumar Reddy and Mr. K. Venkata Reddy, who worked together for building a pond at Chintakomma Dinne setting aside their long-standing feud that claimed five lives in the past. Also, Mr. Naidu appreciated a Telugu daily that inspired people to take up ``Neeru-Meeru'' and called upon other newspapers and TV channels to work for a social cause.

Mr. Naidu stressed on the population control saying that the population of Andhra Pradesh, which was around 3.1 crores in 1951, reached 7.57 crores now. Tamil Nadu, which had around the same size of population at the time of Independence, could manage to keep the population at 6.5 crores now. The Chief Minister said Andhra Pradesh put up a good performance on the population control front in the last decade. The population of children which was around 19.5 lakhs in 1995 had come down to 14.5 lakhs by the year 2001. He said scarce resource could be better distributed if the population growth was under control.

Mr. Naidu asked the rural people to give importance to education of their children and their own because Kurnool district was lagging behind in the State. While the average literacy in the State was 61 per cent, only 33.48 per cent of residents of Alamur were educated. The literacy in Chintakomma Dinne was 44 per cent, Mr. Naidu told the villagers. He asked the adults to attend the 90-day school and learn at least to read the destination boards on buses and learn signature.

Mr. Naidu said concurrent audit would be introduced to avoid misuse of public money. Kurnool district was given Rs. 55.60 crores under different heads for development of water sources. If the public were vigilant and cooperative, great things could be achieved with the monies. He said water conservation gave instant results and the impact could be noted within a year. Unlike other sources of water, the beneficiaries of minor irrigation sources were the people who toiled for it.

On the faction violence in Rayalaseema, Mr. Naidu said the Government would work for stamping out violence and restoring peace in the rural areas. The people who were engrossed in fights had neglected development and yearned for revenge. The Chief Minister promised to supply water to about 10,000 acres this year from the telugu Ganga in Rudravaram mandal as promised earlier.

Mr. Naidu promised to build at checkdam at Isukapalli at a cost of Rs. 47 lakhs for the benefit of farmers in and around Alamur, a road at Chintakomma Dinne and repairs to Nagulacheruvu at a cost of Rs. 40 lakhs at Sirivella.

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